Fantagraphics Blog Jen Vaughn

We've recently had some new blood join our satanic circle in comics and are proud to highlight them. Meet Keeli McCarthy, one of our designers. She's currently working on many books for us, too many but she's a tough nut. What other jobs and experiences have you had in comics?I was the first female employee at a shop called Atomic Comics in the mid-90s in Phoenix. I was hired as the "alternative comics" person. I diverted a lot of questions about Image release dates with "um, how about checking out that Julie Doucet book there in the corner?" What was…

Today, comiXology has is giving away digital copies of Jason's Werewolves of Montpellier. Typically $9.99, this comic can be yours for a few simple clicks of the ol' mouse! A faux werewolf-cum-burglar named Sven runs afoul of a real society of werewolves who don't take kindly to the pretender. So while Sven spends his days playing chess and poker with his friends, sketching his way through his picturesque chosen hometown, and coping with romantic dilemmas – both his and those of his best friend, the Breakfast-at-Tiffany's-obsessed Audrey, who has girl troubles of her own – little does he realize that a genuine threat to…

With 29 glorious days to go in his campaign, Paul Hornschemeier is running a Kickstarter campaign to pay for the creation of Giant Sloth, his next animated short. This animation is fun, Gordon (voiced by Paul Giamatti) is the curator of a musty, dusty natural history museum full of eccentricities. One day he finds that the museum will be privitized and enjoy watching a man's life go down the draing with his collapsing sanity, Hornschemeier has an all-star cast ready to go with featuring the voices of Paul Giamatti, Jason Mantzoukas, and Kate McKinnon plus Comedy Bang Bang's Scott Aukerman. Some…

May is thundering past us and we just received one of the biggest deliveries of our Kickstarter: THE SHIRTS! We're mailing them out as we type so keep your eyes on that mailbox. The Team Fanta shirt was designed by our designer, Keeli McCarthy, who funny enough Kickstarted for another reward BEFORE she worked here. [insert what a small world reference here] She knocked this shirt outta the park, it's just fantastic! Many of our books have been printed and sent out. We're mounting the bookplates (a few of them went out without plate mounts-argh!) but they are still removable…

This week Book Expo America is happening in New York City! From Thursday, May 29 – Saturday, May 31, 2014 at the Javits Center, NYC, Associate Editor Eric Reynolds will be pushing our fall line of comics including Lucy Knisley's An Age of License, Hip Hop Family Tree Book Two by Ed Piskor, the Zap collection, and Michael Jordan by Wilfred Santiago. The second volume of Barnaby is RIGHT THERE on the top left-hand shelf, truly drool worthy.Fantagraphics is at table 1927 right next to W.W. Norton.  Stop on by to flip through some of the most amazing comics by world's greatest cartoonists, grab a Free Comic Book Day Comic…

This week's comic shop shipment is slated to include the following new titles. Read on to see what comics-blog commentators and web-savvy comic shops are saying about them (more to be added as they appear), check out our previews at the links, and contact your local shop to confirm availability. The Amateurs by Conor Stechschulte 64-page black & white 6" x 9" softcover • $14.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-734-5 "Stechschulte's dark humour and claustrophobic art style make this an intense and disquieting read." –Frederik Hautain, Broken Frontier "…readers take in something comics can capture better than prose, the blankness of a mind already gone…[Stechschulte's] approach to storytelling, eschewing…

Guess who's coming for dinner and that dinner is CAKE?! Fantagraphics with a smashing line-up of cartoonists will be in Chicago May 31-June 1st for the next greatest thing in comic shows. The show is opening Saturday and Sunday this week from 11am-6pm at 3656 N Halsted. Special Guest Tony Millionaire will be at a table RIGHT NEXT to our signing books all day, all weekend. The map on the site was a bit too tiny even for my magnifying glass soooo just look for us at table 6-7. Jacq Cohen is repping us and is usually dressed to the nines.  …

Feel the no-love wash over as comiXology continues the serialization of Hate by Peter Bagge and Esther Pearl Watson's Unlovable Book 2 where slobby chicks rule! In issue #11 of Hate, Buddy and Lisa hit rock bottom: their disgusting and pathetic behavior ostracizes them from all their friends, including the usually tolerant George Hamilton III, who moves out in a huff. In fact, Buddy and Lisa can't even stand each other, but they're all they have left now! This bitter orgy of alcoholism, desperate sex, and bad attitudes is only $1.99 for 25 pages. "I love Hate!" – Matt Groening  Esther Pearl Watson's Unlovable Book 2 continues in Issue #3 "Bum…

Next month's issue of Booklist will include review of a recent releases by a Fantagraphics creator, excerpted below: The Love Bunglers by Jaime Hernandez Starred Review: "Skillfully merging tragedy and serendipity, Hernandez brings the [Maggie and Ray's] intertwining stories to a satisfying, if hard-won, culmination. The simplicity of Hernandez's page designs and the elegant economy of his drawing style belie the thoughtful sophistication of his storytelling… Although The Love Bunglers certainly isn't a jumping-on point for new readers, fans who've followed Maggie's exploits over the years will find it a heartbreakingly satisfying achievement that leaves the door wide open for further chapters…

Get your glitter and your cowboy boots, Esther Pearl Watson is a-coming home to Texas. Specifically, the spacious Webb Gallery in Waxahachie (remember when we visited a few years ago?). Esther's got a whole new line of paintings created just for this show and the opening reception is Sunday, June 1st from 4-7pm. She'll also be signing copies of her brand-spanking-new book Unlovable 3 starring the most endearing Tammy Pierce. Live in Dallas or Austin? Waxahachie is one sweet easy road trip away.  Can't make the signing? Contact Julie at Webb Gallery ahead of time to order your copy of a sketched-in and signed Unlovable 3!…